Desert Bloom
by YungVodkaDikost
Summary: After healing a rogue without knowing his crimes, Sakura finds herself slowly questioning the life she had been living for so long. After befriending him, she begins to see that the world wasn't as black and white as she had come to believe. With the course of her life changing, she is forced to make a decision and follow her heart into the future. Non-cannon AU. Rating may change
1. Arc One: Healer

**So, I'm posting another chapter story lol. I couldn't wait to get this up for you guys, to be honest.**

 **This story is dedicated Jacpin2002! I am honestly convinced that she might be my soul mate, lol. The idea popped into my head while we were talking about one of our OTP's; SasoSaku! That's right, baby! SasoSaku goodness is on the way!**

 **This story does not follow canon whatsoever! It's AU time, baby!**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

Sakura sighed as she walked down one of the deserted paths through Suna. She had been assigned to go out and patrol the edge of the village alone tonight. She could think of a million different things that she would rather be doing, but orders were orders. Her body was a tool for her village to use as they saw fit. After the assassination of the Third Kazekage, the village wasn't taking any chances. The patrols had been upped and the amount of ninjas that were currently stationed around the village had been tripled. Which, of course, meant that she would be working more than usual. Oh, joy.

While most of the ninjas were kept within the villages walls, a select few were charged with patrolling the outskirts of the village. No one was given the name of the person responsible for the death of the Kazekage, and if Sakura was being completely honest, she really didn't care who the hell did it. While most of the villagers were determined to find the person responsible, she just wanted to give them a damn medal.

The Third had been a tyrant and she would be lying if she said he mourned his untimely death. In truth, the village was probably better off without him. She'd had the unfortunate pleasure of being one of the people he called on when he wanted something done. Whether it was for a mission or because he didn't feel like bothering anyone else, he would call on her to do it.

After graduating from the academy at the age of eight, she was already a jounin at the tender age of sixteen. She had chosen to continue taking missions here and there, but refused to become a sensei for Genin. She just didn't have the patience to deal with kids that were fresh out of the academy. She could think of a million different things that she'd rather do. Whenever she had been called upon by him, she had always felt like nothing more than a glorified pet to him. The bastard.

While she was not talented with Puppet Jutsu like most of the Suna Ninja, she had her own fighting style that made up for it. While her regular ninjutsu was lacking, she made up for it in raw brute strength. She had gotten lucky a few years back and she'd had the honor of being taught by the legendary Sannin, Tsunade Senju. While the Senju woman had taught her how to channel her chakra and use it to enhance her strength to the point of it being inhuman, she had also taught her to heal. She had learn numerous forms of medical jutsu under her instruction. When it had been made known that she had been training under the Sannin, she was ordered to become to Kazekage's personal medic.

Needless to say, it hadn't been the most pleasant experience. If he had caught something as small and simple as the sniffles, she would be dragged out of bed just to heal him. Who the hell got the sniffles in the middle of the damn desert anyway?!

She quickly realized that she had been lost in her own thoughts for the better part of ten minutes. She shook her head to clear herself of her thoughts and signed herself out at the village gates. With one last wave to the ninja guarding the entrance to the village, she exited the village and began her rounds. She adjusted her jounin vest before letting out a long suffering sigh, preparing herself for another boring boarder patrol. It was rare that something interesting ever happened when she was out on patrol.

She wasn't expecting to find anything, she never did. Most of the surrounding villages knew better than to skulk around the village's perimeter after dark. You never knew who you would run into. While Suna was mostly known for its mastery over Puppet Jutsu, they were also known for producing some of the most ruthless killers in history. Unlike most villages, you were taught that the mission came first. If someone came between you and your mission, you would get rid of them accordingly.

Though she did not enjoy killing without reason, she could not afford to be punished for failing her missions. She didn't know what happened in other villages, seeing as she rarely left her desert home anymore, but she could only imagine that the other villages were more lenient with their ninjas. The possible difference didn't bother her too much, after all, all villages had their own rules and expectations.

But that didn't mean that everybody agreed with said expectations.

She walked across the blazing sand, her feet so light on the grains that they barely left any indication that she had even walked over it. The wind picked up slightly and blew her bubblegum colored tresses into her face. With a small scowl, she brushed the wayward strands behind her ear and out of her face. Her hair was getting long again, it would be time to cut it to a more manageable length again soon.

When she was younger, she had always worn her hair long and flowing down her back. But when she had gotten into a particularly nasty fight with a rogue ninja, she had been forced to cut her long hair just below her shoulders. It had been either cut her hair or possibly lose her life to a kunai to the throat. She had clearly chosen the former. Since that day, she had always made a point to keep her hair short and manageable. She didn't want a repeat of what had happened so many years ago.

The wind picked up again, blowing sand into her face. She squinted through the small blast of sand and continued her trek, determined to get her patrol as quickly as she could. She had a cool shower and bed waiting for her back at her apartment and she couldn't wait to get back to it. She picked up the quickness in her step, newfound determination raging through her body. She could already feel the cool water cascading down her limbs.

She shoved her hands in her standard issue tan, shinobi pants and turned her head towards the sky, watching the star sparkle in the heavens. To the untrained eye, it looked like she was completely oblivious to her surroundings. Anybody who didn't know her would think that she was a sitting duck and an easy target. But it was quite the opposite. If anybody were to emerge from behind one of the many sand dunes and attempt to attack her, they would find themselves with a fist sized hole in their chest.

While she didn't appreciate being underestimated for being a woman, or having pink hair for that matter, she always enjoyed the surprised looks on people's faces when they realized that she was not to be taken lightly. Many people over the years had learned that fact the hard way and she had never been able to bring herself to feel bad for them. They should have known better than to take their enemy lightly and they had paid the price for their mistakes.

Still, she did not enjoy the sight of blood running down her foes bodies, nor did she enjoy watching the life drain from their eyes. But that was part of being a ninja and she wasn't about to quit now because she was required the end a life or two.

"Try three hundred and seventy two.", she grumbled under her breath.

While most ninja's did not keep count of how many kills they had made during the careers, she had made a habit of doing so. She didn't know why she forced herself to remember each and every life she had stolen. How many people's children she had taken away from them. How many parent's she had taken away from children. Though she did pride herself on the fact that she had never taken a defenseless child's life. She had only killed enemy ninja in battle. She had outright refused many missions that would have required her to end the life of a mere child.

The thought was sickening to even think about.

She rounded a rather large sand dune and expanded her chakra, looking to see if there were any ninja in the area that were not meant to be there. Her eyebrow raised in surprise when she picked up on a faint chakra signature a few miles to the west of her. She focused her chakra in the direction of the signature and furrowed her brow when she found that it was fluctuating rapidly. Either the signatures owner was injured or they were fighting somebody.

The medic side of her insisted that she investigated the source of the chakra and turned on her heel and headed in the direction of the signature. She wanted nothing more than to turn the other cheek and ignore the strange signature but she knew that her mind would not rest until she at least checked it out. She didn't bother rushing towards the signature, if the person she was sensing was indeed fighting someone, she didn't wish to interfere. Part of her felt like she knew the owner of the signature but quickly pushed the thought aside.

She knew a lot of people's chakra signatures after all, it wouldn't be the first time that she had mistaken someone for another. She wasn't exactly the greatest sensor type alive, after all. She estimated that it would take her about twenty minutes to reach the source of the fluctuating chakra at the pace that the was moving. By then, whoever the owner of the signature was fighting would hopefully be done. She knew that she had been hoping for some form of entertainment during her patrol, stray chakra signatures wasn't exactly what she was hoping for.

She had been hoping for something along the lines of rapid sand snakes or angry mama sand lizards. They were always fun to take pent up frustration out on. But no, she got stuck with some random who clearly didn't belong to the village. Nobody from the patrols ever strayed out this far and there weren't any teams due back until tomorrow afternoon. So, there was a chance that she was going to be stumbling upon a rogue ninja that had strayed too close to another stray and decided to duke it out like savages.

Lovely.

Wonderful.

"Just kill me now.", she groaned under her breath.

She truly didn't get paid enough to deal with this shit. She just wanted to do her rounds and go home dammit! And she had been almost done too, she mentally bemoaned.

* * *

After a good twenty minutes of trekking through the desert and wallowing in barely contained self pity, she was finally mere feet away from the owner of the signature that she had picked up. She noticed a clearly male ninja laying face down in the sand, a small pool of blood drenching the sand underneath him. She stopped a few feet away from him and sent out her chakra once again, checking to see if there was anybody near by. When she was satisfied that it was just her and the injured ninja, she crossed the few feet between them and knelt down next to him.

She shook his shoulder, trying to rouse him from unconsciousness, only to receive a pained moan in response. With a small sigh, she rolled the man over onto his back as gently as she could. Though there was a large chance that this man was a rogue ninja, the medic in her would not allow her to walk away from him and allow him to die. Once she was done healing him, she could always drag his ass back to the village.

But first, she needed to heal him.

Once he was shifted onto his back, she took a moment to take in the man's features. To say the least, the male was gorgeous. If she had been a weaker woman, she probably would have blushed a delicate shade of red as she drank in his features. Shaggy, red hair that caressed his forehead tastefully, almost giving him the 'I just had a good romp' look. Dark lashes brushing against his cheeks, she offhandedly wondered what color his eyes were. She let her eyes wander down his body, taking his tattered appearance into consideration. He was clearly a rogue, if the scratched out forehead protector tied through one of the belt loops in his pants was any indication. Part of her couldn't help but wonder if she'd seen him before.

It was highly possible, considering his headband was from Suna.

With a small mental shrug, she allowed her eyes to travel over his shirt clad chest, her eyes zeroing in on the three bloody slash marks staining the material. Without another thought, she reached into the pouch strapped to her thigh and withdrew a kunai.

"Hope this wasn't your favorite shirt, buddy.", she muttered before slicing through the fabric with a flick of her wrist. She gently parted the now ruined material and grimaced at the gory state that his stomach was in. Whoever had attacked him had clearly been going for the kill. She suspected that after practically gutting the male, his attacker had left him to bleed out in the sand.

Had she not found him, that would have surely been his fate.

With a small exhale, she allowed her hands to glow green and gently placed them just above his stomach. She pushed healing chakra into his wounds and scanned his insides for any internal bleeding or other injuries. She found that he had three cracked ribs and that his liver had been hit by one of the blades that had pierced her stomach. She had been expecting more injuries but was pleasantly surprised that fixing him up wouldn't take a huge amount of her chakra.

She began with his liver first, were it to rupture, she would have a messier healing on her hands. She slowly knit the tissue back together with her chakra, making sure not to miss a single spot. Once she was satisfied that his liver was completely healed, she moved to his ribs. She quickly mended the bones, internally thankful that they were merely cracked rather than broken.

Once his internal injuries were dealt with, she turned her attention to the bleeding wounds on his stomach. She raised a hand and wiped the small amount of sweat that beaded her brow away with the back of her hand. She placed her hands back down above his stomach and got to work stitching his skin back together. While the wounds were deep, they wouldn't take her too long to repair. She absently thanked her teacher for drilling field healing into her skull. It took mere minutes to stitch the flesh back together.

Once he was completely healed, she sat back on her haunches, absently noting that she had technically just committed treason by healing a rogue. She shrugged the feeling off, what the village didn't know wouldn't kill them. Or her, for that matter. Now that she thought about it, there would be no way that she could drag this man back to Suna without questions being raised. She would be dragging in a man with no injuries and that would raise a lot of suspicion.

"Looks like you get to stay free to live another day, little rogue.", she muttered under her breath.

She lowered herself into a sitting position next to his body, watching him carefully. Even though she had healed his wounds and he was in no danger of dying, he would be in quite a bit of pain when he finally regained consciousness. She supposed that if she was going to technically betray her village, she was going to demand a thank you for doing so. Otherwise, this man was going to find himself with a whole new set of wounds decorating his body.

As she waited for the red head to wake up, she allowed her thoughts to wander. They wandered back to her life back at the village. While she was as loyal to her village as they came, she couldn't honestly say that she was completely content with her life. Due to her temper and proneness to violence, most of the villagers avoided her like the plague. The only times she could think of people willingly speaking to her was when they needed her to heal them or the Kazekage summoning her for one reason or another.

Otherwise, she was left alone. Being alone didn't bother her as much as it should have, but she knew that basically living in isolation wasn't exactly healthy. She mentally pushed that thought aside. She had been taking care of herself for a long time and she was just fine with that. At least, that was what she constantly told herself. She couldn't bring herself to create bonds with the other ninjas in the village for two reasons. Those reasons being that she wouldn't have to mourn them if they lost their lives and second, because most of the time those bonds were only made for some sort of gain.

Having bonds with people could be seen as a weakness that could be used against you. And when you were as alone as she was, the last thing she needed was to have an easy weakness to exploit. Sure, if people approached her, she didn't automatically push them away, but she refused to allow herself to bond and connect with her. The only people that she could find some semblance of peace with were the children that wandered around the village. She had noticed early on that children were drawn to her like a moth to a flame. She didn't mind though, she enjoyed their innocent presence.

A low groan of pain broke her out of her thoughts and she tore her gaze away from the stars overhead. She lowered her gaze towards the man laying in front of her, his face contorted with pain. She watched his eyes crack open with interest, absently thinking that the color of his eyes suited the color of his hair perfectly. Murky brown eyes tinged with grey stared back at her. His eyes were glazed with pain and he looked at her with a small questioning look.

"How am I not dead right now? I know for a fact that my wounds were fatal.", he croaked, his throat felt as dry as the desert sand that he was currently laying on.

"I thought that would have been obvious. I healed you, rogue boy.", Sakura replied with a smirk. She stripped off the small pack on her back and fished through its contents, searching for one of the bottles of water that she had shoved in there before she had left her apartment earlier that evening. She felt his eyes watching her carefully but barely took notice of it. She couldn't blame him for being careful, she was a complete stranger after all. With a victorious smirk, she retracted a bottle of water from her pack.

She slid a bit closer to the male and carefully slid her arm around his shoulders and carefully helped him sit up, his eyes watching her every move. He was obviously watching her movements in case she decided last minute to actually kill him. Once he was properly sat up, she pressed the bottle of water into his hands, her arm staying around his shoulders to help support his weight. She allowed herself a small smile when he carefully opened the bottle and took a couple sips of the cool liquid.

"You are aware that I am a rogue and yet you still helped me. Why?", he asked, his voice a little less gravely this time.

"Because I firmly believe that every life is precious. I don't know who you are or what your crimes are and, if we're being honest, I could care less. You aren't in any position to try to kill me. And now that I've healed you, I doubt you'd try to kill me for saving your sorry ass anyway.", Sakura replied with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"You seem quite confidant that I'm no going to kill you that minute my limbs don't feel like they're going to fall off.", he remarked, a small smirk playing across his lips.

"I healed you with my chakra and I am perfectly capable of redecorating your body with even prettier wounds with it as well.", she threw back slyly.

The red head couldn't help but smirk at her retort, this girl was quite interesting indeed. He noticed the Suna headband tied proudly across her forehead and mentally frowned. It seemed that she had no idea who he was at all, which was quite shocking. Most people from the village would have recognized him on sight and dragged his ass back to the village and put him to death. Not her though, curious indeed.

"Just who are you, anyway? Most ninja from Suna would have killed me the minute they saw me.", he asked pointedly, locking his eyes with hers in case she tried to lie to him.

"Sakura Haruno, Suna Jounin and your savior.", she replied in a bored tone.

"Are you the girl that trained under Tsunade at one point when she visited the village.", he asked with a quirked eyebrow. He couldn't believe that he had missed it before. The bright pink hair should have tipped him off right away, he mentally slapped himself for not realizing who she was sooner. Apparently, he was more out of it than he had originally thought. He tucked the fact that she was a talented healer into the back of his mind for future reference.

"That'd be me. If you're from Suna, I would have thought that you would have realized that the minute you caught a glimpse of my hair.", she pointed out with a shrug.

"Excuse me for being a little groggy, I was dying a little while ago.", he deadpanned.

"You're excused. Now, what are you going to do now that you're all healed up and free to do whatever it is that rogues do, hmm?", Sakura asked with a small yawn. Apparently she'd been waiting for him to wake up a lot longer than she had realized.

"Oh, you know, pillage a village or two, raid the black market, the works.", he replied before taking a couple more sips from the bottle in his hand.

"Sounds glorious.", she smirked.

"You have no idea, but seriously, I have no idea what I'll do now. I haven't exactly been a rogue very long.", he shrugged and replaced the cap on the water bottle.

"You recently defected? How have I not heard about it?", Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. Things were certainly getting more interesting by the minute. Never before did she think that she would be spending a regular patrol with a rogue ninja and having a normal conversation with said rogue. Weren't all rogues supposed to be ugly little bastards with dastardly agendas? Clearly she'd had the wrong impression of rogues all along. Or this guy was just different. Either way, it was still a new experience.

"Not sure, I'm surprised you haven't been informed about me. I suspect that I'm the reason that you're supposed to be on patrol right now, to be honest.", the red head offered with a grimace. He had to admit, it was nice to know that he wasn't as well known as he expected to be for his crimes. When he had woken up, he had expected her to drive the kunai resting by her leg straight into his heart, not have a casual conversation with him. It had truly thrown him through a bit of a loop.

"Oh? And why exactly would you be the reason that I'm stuck out here instead of taking a nice, cool shower and lounging in my bed.", she asked, her eyes narrowing with a small amount of annoyance.

"You have absolutely no idea who I am, do you?", he sighed.

"Not a damn clue.", she admitted with a nod, her brow furrowing with confusion.

"Promise not to stab me right away and allow me a chance to explain myself afterwards?", he sighed.

"Uh, sure. Why not.", she agreed, waving her free hand to gesture for him to get on with it.

"My name is Akasuna no Sasori and I am the person responsible for the death of the Third Kazekage."

* * *

 **Boom! She's complete and I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out. But what do you think of it?**

 **Yes, Sakura is from Suna in this story! The beauty of AU's!**

 **She maintained her original abilities that she was taught from Tsunade and was still trained by her. Just under different circumstances!**

 **She's a bit of a loner in this story, will she eventually break out of her shell with the help of a very handsome red headed Puppet Master? ;)**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts on the story!**

 **Again, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow! Reviews and support bring quicker updates on all my stories. ;)**

 **Again, this story is dedicated to my soul mate Jacpin2002! Hope you like it, my dear!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	2. Arc One: The Boy and the Demon

**And we are back with the second chapter! First off, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and gave me some awesome feedback. It means a lot. :) This story is actually really fun to write, it helps that I'm writing my favorite red head.**

 **Anyway...**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow! Positive feedback equals faster updates, after all!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

Previously;

 _"You have absolutely no idea who I am, do you?", he sighed._

 _"Not a damn clue.", she admitted with a nod, her brow furrowing with confusion._

 _"Promise not to stab me right away and allow me a chance to explain myself afterwards?", he sighed._

 _"Uh, sure. Why not.", she agreed, waving her free hand to gesture for him to get on with it._

 _"My name is Akasuna no Sasori and I am the person responsible for the death of the Third Kazekage."_

* * *

Sakura's jaw dropped, her jaw dangling somewhere down by her knees. She had been aware that the death of the Kazekage had been dealt by the hand of a Sand ninja, but she had been expecting someone, well, taller? Older? Perhaps someone that wasn't around her age? She had been under the impression that his murderer had probably been one of the Anbu members that kept close watch on him.

Not a guy that was clearly not a former Anbu member and that was no older than eighteen years old.

It was quite a bit to take in.

"You seriously expect me to believe that you were able to take down the Kazekage? I mean, he was a total bastard, but I doubt he could be taken down by a guy who doesn't look a day over eighteen.", Sakura pointed out, her eyebrow raised in question. She had a feeling that this guy wasn't the only rogue that would go out and claim that they had taken down a Kage by themselves. Unless he was able to show her some proof of his supposed crime, she wouldn't believe his claims.

"Just because I'm only eighteen doesn't mean I could't take him down, the fact that I did proves that.", Sasori grunted, shrugging his shoulders to dislodge her arm from his person. He was finally starting to feel a lot better, much to his relief. He supposed that he couldn't blame her for being a little skeptical, he would be too if she had made the same claim towards him.

"Unless you have show me some proof that you actually did have a hand in his death, I won't believe a word of it.", Sakura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at the red head. He sure had an ego to him, damn men and their egos.

"Do you truly wish to see the proof of my crimes?", the red head asked, his head tilted to the side in question.

"I wouldn't ask for proof if I didn't want it, rogue boy.", she replied with a roll of her eyes. She didn't make a habit of saying things she didn't mean, but then again, he wasn't aware of that. Hell, the only thing he knew about her was that she had been trained by Tsunade and that she was from Suna.

"If you insist.", he shrugged in response.

He took hold of the scroll that had been strapped to his thigh and slowly rolled it out on the sand in front of them. He bit his thumb and rubbed a small amount of his blood into the scroll. After making a quick hand seal and a small poof of smoke, the bloody corpse of the Third Kazekage laid dead in front of them. He turned his head to take in Sakura's reaction and his eyes widened a fraction when he saw her smirk in acceptance.

"Believe me now?", he sighed. Normally, he would have outright refused to show her. Hell, he wasn't normally this patient with people, but something about her was different from other people. For one, she hadn't tried to kill him the minute he had told her his name. Second, she hadn't outright killed him when she had found him passed out in the sand. And thirdly, she smirked at the dead Kage's body instead of trying to kill him.

"I believe you now, thank you.", she nodded before reaching up towards her vest and pulled one of the buttons out of the material. She started fiddling with the small piece of metal for a moment before digging through her bag for something.

"What are you doing now?", he asked with a small frown. This girl was definitely interesting, if nothing else. He took a moment to quickly reseal the Kazekage's corpse back in the scroll before turning his attention back to the pink haired woman next to him.

"Making you a goddamn medal.", she replied as if stating the obvious.

"Why the hell are you making me a medal for killing your Kage? Aren't you angry?", he asked in utter confusion. Weren't most ninjas supposed to fly into a rage when people killed their leaders? This girl was getting more and more interesting by the second. Too bad she'd probably have to leave him soon and return to the village. She was technically supposed to be on patrol, after all.

"The only thing I'm angry about is the fact that I wasn't able to assist you in ridding the village of that asshole. And I'm making you a medal because you succeeded in doing something that should have been done a long time ago. The guy was a tyrant and an ass, his wounds are quite pretty to look at, if I do say so myself. I have to ask though, why the hell did you bring his corpse with you?", she explained with a small snort. Once she was satisfied that her makeshift medal was good enough, she tossed it into his lap.

Sasori snorted when he felt the small piece of metal make contact with his thigh. He couldn't blame her for her feelings towards the Kazekage, he really had been a major asshole. But still, asshole or not, most ninjas would have flown into a rage and hunted down the assassin. Not her though, she was clearly different from the rest of the villagers. During his time as a loyal Sand Ninja, he had been considered a loner with only one friend to his name. A friend that had ended up dying after ingesting one of his poisons. Though his friend was gone, he was still by Sasori's side, just not in the normal sense.

His friend was feeling a bit more wood-like nowadays.

"Your only issue with my crimes is the fact that you were not able to help murder the Kazekage?", he asked slowly, surely he had misheard her. No loyal ninja from an village would willingly admit that they would assist in the murder of their village leader. The thought was unheard of, no matter where you were from.

"Are you by chance hard of hearing, rogue boy? I clearly just stated that I would have helped take down the bastard without hesitation. I don't enjoy killing people, if that's what you're thinking. But he was a terrible leader, plus he treated me like a glorified toy.", Sakura replied just as slowly, she made her words were as clear as possible. She didn't like repeating herself if she didn't have to.

"I see, well, that information would have been nice to know earlier.", he sighed. In truth, having a little help during the assassination would have been nice. It would have made his job a bit easier if he's had someone to watch his back, especially if his back up had been an interesting, pink haired healer with inhuman strength.

"Heh, trust me, it would have been nice to know that someone was planning to take the dude down.", she responded with a small smirk.

"Care to explain how he treated you like a glorified toy?", he asked curiously. He couldn't recall the last time someone had actually kept his interest for more than a few minutes. But here he was, sitting in the middle of the desert having a somewhat normal conversation that didn't end after two or three minutes.

"After I finished my training with Tsunade, he decided that he was going to take me as his personal medic. I'd get dragged out of bed in the middle of the night for any little ache or pain. If he had the sniffles he'd act like he was dying. If anything, he was like an over sized child.", she explained with a wave of her hand.

"Who gets the sniffles in the desert?", he muttered with a shake of his head.

"My thoughts exactly.", she huffed.

"I suppose you're going to have to head back to the village soon, hmm? We've been sitting here for at least an hour and I have no idea how long you waited for me to wake up.", he sighed. The thought of her leaving him all alone in the desert didn't exactly sound appealing, but what could he do? He could very well kidnap her, but he enjoyed her presence enough not to break the small amount of trust she had gifted him with. He'd have to find away to see her again as soon as he was able to.

"Suppose you're right, not that heading back to the village really sounds all that appealing. Seeing as I'm about forty minutes late I'm going to get an earful. Not that I'm not used to it, I tuned their raging out ages ago. I kinda wish I had the same kind of freedom you do now.", she groaned.

"I'm a wanted murderer, my freedom isn't going to be easy.", he pointed out, his hand gesturing towards the scroll that contained the proof of his crime.

"While that may be, you still have the freedom to go where you want when you want. You have no rules to abide by but you're own. You have true freedom and I'm stuck back in a village that I can't stand", she complained with a pout.

"You could always defect from the village, you know.", he pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Suppose that's true, but there are things I need to do first before I can truly think about leaving for good.", she sighed before raising herself from the sand. She dusted off her pants and offered Sasori a hand. Once her grasped her hand in his, she hefted him to his feet. They stared at each other for a long moment before dropping each other's hands.

"Will I see you again at some point or is your kindness a one time thing?", Sasori smirked, his smirk widening when she sighed and shook her head at him.

"You aren't getting rid of me that easy, rogue boy. I'm sure we'll be meeting up with each other again sooner or later. And once my business within the village is done, you'll probably be seeing even more of me.", she replied with a wave of her hand.

"When is your next solo patrol?", he asked suddenly.

"Three nights from now. Same time, same area.", she replied easily. "Why, you going to miss me?"

"Meet me here when you come out on your next patrol, you're the closest thing I'm going to have for company now that I'm wanted.", he ordered with mock sternness. He mentally slapped himself when he realized that this girl was actually able to make him act kind of silly. Him not being a serious tightwad was unheard of. And here he was, getting teased by a woman he barely knew and not killing her for it. She truly was interesting.

"I think I can manage that. Anything you want me to bring you since you obviously won't be entering the village any time soon?", she offered with a small smile.

"Actually, if you could break into my old apartment and grab me all my notes and the scroll on my desk, I'd appreciate it.", he nodded.

"I think I can manage that, where's your apartment? I'll sneak in there tomorrow night while everybody is out patrolling.", she replied with a small yawn.

He easily gave her directions to his small apartment and with one last nod and a promise to see each other in three days, the duo separated and headed in opposite directions.

* * *

Sakura groaned when the village gates came into view, she sure had a lot of explaining to do. She knew she was a good liar, but what the hell was she going to tell them when they asked her where she was? She couldn't exactly tell them the truth, but what the hell was she supposed to tell them? With a mental sigh, she decided to just go with it. Maybe she'd get lucky and they wouldn't give a damn about her being late.

She quickly signed herself in at the front gates, hoping that she was going to be let go without any questioning. She held her breath as she set the pen down and started to move forward into the village when she was suddenly called back by the guards.

"Is there a reason that you are more than an hour late returning from your patrol? Did you run into trouble during your rounds?", one of the guards grunted, his eyes glaring into the back of her skull.

"I ran into an angry mama sand lizard, I must have strayed too close to her nest. She attacked me and left me a little wounded afterwards, I had to take a little while to regain my chakra and heal myself.", she lied smoothly.

"Did you dispose of the body once you were finished?", came the next question and Sakura had to resist the urge to sigh. Did this guy think she was stupid? She knew the drill and was fully aware that the rules stated that you had to dispose of the corpses of your kills.

"Of course I did, are you questioning my ability to follow the rules set by the village?", she replied with a grunt.

"Just making sure. Go home, there will be a meeting in the morning that all of the ninjas in the village are required to attend.", the man informed.

"I will be there. I assume it has to do with appointing a new Kazekage?", she asked respectfully, her head turning to the side to regard him out of the corner of her eye.

"Your guess is as good as mine, either way, you'll be expected in the meeting room by ten in the tower.", the guard replied with a small, unknowing shrug.

Sakura nodded gratefully to him and left the post.

* * *

Sakura groaned as she unlocked the door to her small, two bedroom apartment. She often questioned why she had bought an apartment with two bedrooms, she never had guests anyway. The second bedroom was set up like any normal bedroom, but it went forever unused. She quickly slipped off her sandals and mad eher way into the bathroom for a much needed shower. She turned the knobs on and waited for the water to warm.

While she waited for the shower to warm, she made quick work of shedding her sand coated clothing. She grimaced when small piles of sand poured out of the pockets on her pants. Sometimes she really hated living in a desert. No matter how much you swept and no matter how tightly closed you kept your pockets, the sand would forever be endless. With one last curse towards the small dunes of sand on her floor, she jumped under the warm spray of her shower. She let out a small sigh on content as the water cascaded down her body.

She methodically went about cleansing herself from her patrol, her thoughts absently straying back to her encounter with Sasori. He had been unlike ever other male she had ever come into contact with. She hadn't expected him, especially as a rogue, to have such a carefree attitude. He was serious almost to a fault but made up for it with his dry wit. He had actually been able to hold a conversation with her and had managed to keep it interesting. The few times that there were short silences, they were comfortably, not horribly awkward.

She let out a sigh of content as she scrubbed shampoo into her dirty, pink tresses. She quickly rinsed the suds from her hair and lathered conditioner into her hair before scrubbing her body raw to rid it of dust and grime. She quickly rinsed her hair and body, her thoughts once again returning to the strange red head she had healed. She knew that she should have killed him for killing her Kazekage, but she still couldn't bring herself to feel any ill will towards him. She had outright told him that he had done the village a service, even if the rest of the villagers were unaware of that fact.

She cut the water to the shower and stepped out of the rub, making quick work of wrapping her body in a towel and her hair with another. She padded down the hallway towards her bedroom and idly wondered where Sasori would be spending the night. Part of her felt bad for not being able to offer him a warm bed to sleep in. When she thought about it, not knowing where you were going to sleep or when your next meal would be would probably be the hardest part about being a rogue.

She turned the light on in her bedroom and made quick work of drying the excess water from her body. She slipped into a comfortable pair of thin, cotton short and a matching tank top. Even though the weather was cooler at night there in the desert, you didn't dare wear anything heavy to bed. You'd wake up in a pool of your own sweat the moment the sun rose the next morning. She flopped her body onto her bed and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. Her mind still haunted by thoughts of Sasori.

She wasn't blind, she knew that he was a very attractive male. But his attractive features weren't what drew her to him. No, it was the fact that he had no inkling of an idea of what had happened in her past. And in turn, she knew very little about him as well. The only things she knew about him were his name, his home village, and his crimes. Anything past that was a total mystery. And for whatever reason, she was content with that. She had no doubt that she would learn more about him in three days when they were due to meet up again. She had to admit, she had never expected him to ask to see her again.

She had half expected him to just thank her for her help and disappear from her life for good. But she had been wrong and that was a weird pill to swallow. She didn't enjoy being wrong, the medic in her refused to be wrong for any reason. But she was completely content with her assumption of Sasori's motives being incorrect.

"I met him a few hours ago and have been away from him for less than an hour and already can't wait to see him again. Just what is happening to this life of isolation that I have built for myself?", she asked herself quietly. She let out a small sigh and shook her head, effectively clearing herself of her thoughts. If she was going to be at the Kage Tower by ten in the morning, she was going to have to get some sleep. There would be hell to pay if she showed up late.

She curled herself comfortably into her blankets and closed her eyes, the warm abyss of sleep taking her consciousness after a few minutes.

* * *

When Sakura awoke the next morning, she let out a small groan of frustration. Not only had her thoughts the night before been filled with images of Sasori, but he had invaded her dreams as well. Part of her felt like a creepy stalker for having a man she barely knew constantly in her thoughts, but another part of her found it oddly refreshing. Normally, her thoughts were always consumed with how to get rid of the Kazekage or what sort of fools errand that he would send her on that day. The fact that she had woken up without the Third crawling through her mind was a very nice change.

With a sigh, she rolled herself out of bed and fished a fresh set of clothes out of her dresser. She quickly threw on a fresh set of underwear and wrapped her brests for the day. She slid her slim legs into a pair of short, black shorts that ended at mid thigh and slipped a deep red medical apron over them. After throwing on a skintight mesh shirt, she lifted a plain, black tank top over her head and deemed herself good enough for the day. She exited her room and slipped into her bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. Once done, she exited and made her way to the kitchen for a quick breakfast.

She glanced at the small clock hanging above her kitchen sink and sighed, she only had about ten minutes before she needed to leave her apartment and head to the mandatory meeting. With an irritated click of her tongue, she opted to grab a red apple from the fruit bowl on her counter and left her kitchen. She'd just take her breakfast to go, it seemed. She slid her feet into her sandals and left her home, quickly locking her door and sealing it with her chakra before heading for the bustling village streets.

She walked slowly down the lively streets of the village, part of her relieved that she didn't live too far from the tower. The other part of her though, was hoping that the ground would open and swallow her whole so she wouldn't have to attend what was probably going to be an extremely boring meeting. Normally, she would just tune out the voice of whoever was speaking during the meetings, but she doubted she would get away with it this time around. If her suspicions were correct, they would be finding out who would be taking the title of Forth Kazekage.

And with a new Kazekage, more than likely came a new job for her. As long as she wasn't stuck playing errand boy and personal medic, she supposed it couldn't be too bad. Still though, she just wanted to go home and crawl back into her bed. That, or go track down Sasori for some interesting company.

 _'And once again, your thoughts have strayed back to your crimson haired rogue.',_ she mentally sighed.

 _Wait!_

Since when did she think of Sasori as _hers?!_

She willed her thoughts to leave the red head and turn to something different.

 _"If only it were that simple."_ , she thought with a groan.

* * *

She entered the tower and absently waved her hand towards one of them men guarding the entrance. They didn't bother stopping her, already knowing why she and the other jounin in the village were being called upon. She scaled a couple flights of stairs and mentally groaned as she prepared herself for a couple hours of pure boredom.

Just as she was about to push the door to the meeting room open, a small flash of crimson flashed in the corner of her eye. Furrowing her brow in confusion, she turned towards the source of such red hair, half expecting to see Sasori standing a few feet away from her. Her eyes widened slightly when two sea foam green eyes, ringed with dark, black circles, locked with her own deep green eyes. The child couldn't have been more than six years old and looked absolutely terrified of her. Not knowing what else to do, lowered herself to her knees and shot the boy a small smile.

"Are you lost, kiddo?", she asked gently, her smile staying firmly in place. The lost look on the little boy's face made her heart ache for him. When she smiled gently at him, his lost look turned into one of pure confusion.

"You're not going to try to hurt me?", he whispered, his little voice laced with sadness and confusion.

"Why on Earth would I want to hurt you? You're just a child.", she replied, slowly inching herself closer to the scared little boy.

"The villagers think I'm a monster and try to hurt me whenever they see me.", he replied, his sea foam eyes brimming with tears that threatened to spill at any given moment.

"I would never harm a child, whether you tried to hurt me or not. You can trust me.", she promised with a small sigh. Once she was close enough, she reached out a hand to touch his shoulder but flinched a little when she felt something sharp slice into her skin. The gave the boy a small smile when he looked at her now bleeding palm in horror.

"I already hurt you though, you didn't even try to hurt me and I hurt you.", the little boy cried, his tears flowing freely down his pale cheeks.

"I'm sure you didn't mean to, I won't hold it against you.", she laughed quietly.

She ignored the stinging in her hand and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. She felt the child tremble under her touch and couldn't tell if it was out of fear or due to his crying. Bracing herself for whatever happened next, she placed her other hand on the boys shoulder and drew her to him. She hugged the little boy to her chest and murmured soothing words into his hair, one of her hands drawing soothing circles into his back. The boy tensed for a moment but quickly relaxed into her embrace. Part of her wondered when the last time this boy was shown any sort of affection. Her arms tensed around the child when she heard someone's footfalls cease behind her.

"What do you think you're doing? Don't you know that monster dangerous?", a Sand jounin cried, his finger pointing straight at the little boy in her arms.

"He's only a child and he has done nothing wrong. Call him a monster again, I'll show you who the real monster is.", Sakura replied slowly, her voice laced with deadly promise.

She didn't even know this child's name and she felt this strange instinctual need to protect him. She heard the child whimper into her chest and she tightened her arms around him soothingly and placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head. Once he was relaxed again, she turned her attention back to the faceless jounin behind her, she didn't even know the man's name, nor did she care to either.

She saw more and more people filing out of the meeting room, more than likely to see what the fuss outside was about, and all stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed the reason for the noise. The Monster of the Desert was wrapped in the arms of one of the most brutal and detached ninjas in the village. Sakura drew her lips back in a silent snarl towards the people who got too close to her and the child.

"Move aside at once!", a powerful voice commanded, his voice booming through the entire hallway. Almost instantly, people started to scramble out of the way and a single man walked down the now cleared hallway. He halted a couple feet away from Sakura and the boy wrapped in her arms and lifted an eyebrow in question, his face a mask of confusion.

"If you're just here to insult this poor child, I'll rip your arms from your body and shove them where the sun doesn't shine."Sakura snapped at the man, her eyes glinting with promise.

"Now this is interesting indeed, I've never seen my son actually cling to someone so willingly.", the man said mostly to himself, ignoring her threat completely.

"Your son? You left your son out in a hallway full of people who call him a monster and would probably try to harm him? You got some fucking issues, buddy.", Sakura snapped, her anger ebbing away when she felt the small boy in her arms nuzzle himself peacefully into her chest. She shot him a small smile when he peaked at her from under his long, crimson bangs. Once he closed his eyes and relaxed into her, her gaze returned to the man with deep purple hair a couple feet away from her.

"It is rare that anybody is able to connect with Gaara, much less be able to touch him. The demon sealed within his body tends to attack anybody who comes within feet of him. He would have been safe if anybody were to attack him out here, though I doubt that they will.", the man shrugged, completely undisturbed by the pink haired woman's outburst.

"Well, maybe if people didn't constantly try to harm him, his demon wouldn't have to defend him. And as his father, it's your job to make sure he's safe instead of depending on a demon to do it for you. You aren't a very good father, are you?", Sakura sneered. The moment the word demon slipped from the boy's father's lips, she felt him flinch against her, almost as if he expected her to push him away. Instead, she pulled him closer to her body. Demon or not, this kid was a total sweetheart.

"Are you questioning my ability to raise my youngest child?", the man asked with a glare.

"Damn right I am. You say he's your youngest child, where are your other children, hmm?", she confirmed, her eyebrow raised in question towards the man.

"In the conference room, waiting for me to start this meeting that you seem to have delayed.", he replied in a bored tone.

"Oh, so you'll take your older children in with you but abandon your youngest to his own devices for hours on end? You're pretty pathetic. If he's that much trouble for you, why don't you just sign his parental rights over to me? At least he'd be taken care of and not left alone.", she snapped in response.

"That can be arranged.", the man shrugged.

"You'd give your child to a complete stranger?", she questioned.

"He seems rather attached to you and he's actually sleeping, which he hasn't done in a long time. And I know exactly who you are, Sakura.", the man smirked.

"I'd happily take in this little sweetheart, he'd be much happier with me than he ever was with you. And it seems you know who I am, care to share just who the hell you are?", Sakura asked with narrow eyes. She knew that taking in a child would make her life a little more interesting, but at least that unused bedroom in her apartment would get some use. If the little boy would sleep without her, at least.

"My name is Rasa and I am now the Fourth Kazekage.", the man, Rasa, smirked.

Sakura raised her eyebrow in interest towards Rasa, well, that hadn't been the answer she had been expecting. She quickly shrugged off her surprise and regarded him with an even stare. It seemed that the Third was being replaced with another bastard. In her eyes, the village was on a never ending downward spiral. At least if Rasa gave up his child into her care, she could provide him with a stable childhood and home. The demon that was apparently sealed within his body seemed to approve of the idea as well. She felt a gentle string of sand wrap around her wrist and smiled down at Gaara's sleeping form.

"A pleasure, Rasa. If you are truly willing to give up your son, I would be honored to take him in as if he were my own. It seems that he's grown quite attached to me and it would be sad to see him go.", Sakura replied, smiling softly down at the sleeping boy.

"It seems that he has made that choice himself and I will not risk angering him by denying him a happy home.", Rasa sighed. "You may be excused from this meeting. I am sure that you would rather get Gaara settled in at your home. I will have someone drop off his belongings and the adoption forms with you after the meeting. Is that acceptable?"

"That is agreeable. I will be on my way then.", Sakura nodded before standing up from her position on the floor. She cradled Gaara close to her body and giggled when the sand around her wrist tightened a fraction and Gaara's little arms reached up to wrap around her neck. She patted his head gently and turned on her heel and left the hallway.

Once she was out of sight, one of the ninjas next to Rasa turned towards him," Do you really think that that was a wise choice? That woman is just as dangerous as he is."

"They will be fine. She can provide him with the one thing I cannot.", Rasa confirmed.

"And that is?", the ninja asked with confusion in his tone.

"A mother's love, of course."

* * *

Sakura closed the door to her apartment quietly and carefully slid her sandals off her feet. She walked towards the back of her apartment and gently pushed her bedroom door open. She had quickly figured out that Gaara wouldn't be releasing her anytime soon and decided that she might as well take a nap with him while she was able to. Rara had told her that he had not slept in a long time and that confused her. What child didn't sleep regularly? Was it because of the demon that was supposed housed within his tiny body.

She shrugged off the thought for now and decided to ask Gaara about it when he woke up later. She gently lowered herself and the sleeping red head in her arms onto her mattress and wrapped her arms around him once again, pulling his little back to her chest. She curled her body protectively around him and slowly covered their bodies with a thin blanket.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and take a much needed nap, her eyes widened.

She was supposed to meet Sasori in two days and now she had a child to take care of.

"Hope he likes kids because where I go, Gaara goes too.", she muttered before closing her eyes and surrendering herself to a peaceful slumber.

* * *

 **Yay! Chapter two is complete! Lots of stuff happened this time around. :)**

 **Sasori got himself a medal! Whoop!**

 **They're gonna meet up in a couple days, is that a blossoming friendship I smell in the air?!**

 **Sakura bonded easily with Gaara and adopts him! Aww, mama Sakura is cute Sakura.**

 **Does Sasori even like children? Guess we'll find out.**

 **Anyway!**

 **As always, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	3. Arc One: Breaking and Entering

**First, i'd just like to start off by saying that I'm really sorry that this took so long for me to get out! Feeling like a bit of an asshole for taking so long to write this up. I have a lot of ongoing stories going so bare with me when it comes to updates! It's getting a little harder to manage so many stories, but I kinda brought that upon myself for not waiting to post another story. But! I will always come back to finish my stories. If I start a story, I have every intention of finishing them!**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story.**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

XXXXXXXX

Previously;

 _She shrugged off the thought for now and decided to ask Gaara about it when he woke up later. She gently lowered herself and the sleeping red head in her arms onto her mattress and wrapped her arms around him once again, pulling his little back to her chest. She curled her body protectively around him and slowly covered their bodies with a thin blanket._

 _Just as she was about to close her eyes and take a much needed nap, her eyes widened._

 _She was supposed to meet Sasori in two days and now she had a child to take care of._

 _"Hope he likes kids because where I go, Gaara goes too.", she muttered before closing her eyes and surrendering herself to a peaceful slumber._

* * *

Sakura awoke the next morning with an unnatural feeling of content buzzing in her heart. She felt Gaara's small body stir in her arms and she slow cracked her eyes open, immediately flinching when the glare from the morning sun decided to assault her with its rays. She blinked a few times to clear her vision and looked down at the small boy waking up in her arms. When her eyes locked with two sleepy sea foam green eyes, she shot him a small smile.

"Good morning, Gaara. How'd you sleep?", Sakura whispered before planting a small kiss on his forehead. He tried to ignore the shocked look on his face at her affectionate gesture. She could tell that he had been showed little to no affection, but it broke her heart to know that something as small as a kiss on the forehead could shock him so much.

"I didn't hurt you while I was sleeping, did I?", the small boy asked worriedly.

"Not at all, you didn't so much as move the entire night. Why are you so worried about hurting me? I know that you would never intentionally hurt me, Gaara.", she replied firmly.

"The demon inside me hurts people every time I fall asleep, that's why I don't sleep. Why didn't he hurt you?", Gaara asked. His eyes shining with confusion and a lost expression firmly in place on his features.

"Maybe your demon approves of me adopting you.", Sakura suggested with a shrug. She kept hearing people mention the demon that was said to be housed in this small child's body. Before yesterday, she'd never even heard of such a thing being possible. But then again, there were many things in this world that people didn't understand. Maybe housing demons inside of children was just one of those things that didn't happen often.

"He likes you, I think.", Gaara mumbled mostly to himself.

"Glad to hear it. Now, why don't we get some breakfast.", the pink haired woman suggested with a small yawn.

When Gaara nodded in agreement, Sakura rolled herself out of bed and scooped the small boy off the bed. She set him gently on the floor and grabbed his hand before leading him in the direction of her small, barely used kitchen. When they reached her tiny kitchen, she gently lifted Garra up and set him on the counter before rummaging through her near empty cupboards. She silently cheered when she found a small sack of rice. She set in on the counter next to the boy and turned around the open her fridge. She took out a carton of eggs and decided to call it good.

She quickly threw the rice into the cooker and set the timer. Once the rice was cooking, she pulled out a frying pan, flicked on the stove, and poured a small amount of oil into it. She took out a small bowl and started cracking eggs into it while she waited for the oil to warm up. Once she was done, she turned her head and shot the small boy on the counter a small smile.

"Sorry if this isn't the most spectacular breakfast you've ever had, Gaara. I'm not usually home long enough to cook a real meal, so I tend to only keep the must haves around here. We'll go grab some real food to stock this place with once they drop the adoption papers off later today, sound good? And maybe some stuff to decorate your new room with?", she asked, her smile staying firmly in place. She didn't know what it was about the boy, but it brought her a form of joy that she'd never really experienced before, and she liked it.

"I don't want you to have to change how you live just because I'm here. And why can't I sleep with you? I can't sleep when I'm alone.", the small boy murmured from his seat on the counter. He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his short arms around them before resting his chin on his knees.

"Well, I can't just feed you rice and eggs for every meal, now can I? And if you really, really want to stay in my room with me, I won't force you to sleep in a different bed.", she replied with a smirk. She remembered Gaara's father's words about him never sleeping and after seeing him sleep so peacefully the night before, she didn't want to basically torture the poor boy by not allowing him to sleep with her. He was just a kid, it wasn't like sharing a bed with him was indecent or anything.

Hell, after today she would legally be his mother.

And what kind of mother figure would she be if she didn't allow her son to snuggle with her at night.

A pretty shitty one, really.

Gaara just nodded in acceptance at her statement and silently watched her cook the eggs on the stove. He'd been with her for a single day and he could easily say that he'd never been happier in his young life. His short life had been filled with nothing but scorn and hatred. His father had so easily given him up to a woman he didn't know, even if he himself had really, really wanted to go with Sakura. His older siblings were both terrified of him and the demon that as housed within his tiny body. The village thought him nothing more than a beast that needed to be destroyed as soon as possible.

But then there was Sakura. She had welcomed him with open arms. She hadn't had a single clue who he was or what was housed within his body. She had approached him with absolutely no fear in her eyes. After he had accidentally hurt her with his sand, she had shrugged in off and hadn't blamed him one but. She'd actually done the complete opposite. She had lowered herself to his height and had embraced him, soothed him, and he had actually been able to fall asleep. When a ninja had insulted him in her presence, the amount of killer intent that had radiated off her body was impressive. She didn't even know his name and she had been more than willing to destroy anyone who sought to cause him harm.

Gaara couldn't have asked for a better mother figure.

"Oi, Gaara. You gonna space out all morning or do you wanna eat, silly boy?", Sakura asked with a smirk as she held a plate of warm food under the young boys nose, effectively breaking him out of his thoughts.

Sakura balanced their plates in one hand and with the other she grabbed Gaara and set him on the ground. She led him to a small dining table and set their plates down before hoisting him onto the chair next to her own. She couldn't help the small giggle that bubbled in her throat. While she knew that all six year old'd were small, Gaara was even smaller than most kids his age. She had a small feeling that once he was older, he was going to go through a massive growth spurt and end up being taller than her once he was a teenager.

Not that it would really take much to be taller than her, seeing at she stood at a mere five feet three inches tall. Small and unpredictable in a fight, such a wonderful combination.

After a few more moments of silence, she watched the small boy dig into his breakfast with gusto. She couldn't tell if it was just that good or if it was because it was because he hadn't had a decent meal in awhile. She silently hoped that he just really enjoyed the food. After a moment of observing, she dug into her own food with just as much gusto as the small boy next to her.

After their breakfast was eaten and the dishes washed, Sakura heard a knock on her front door. She frowned for a moment but then quickly realized that it was probably ANBU with the adoption papers for Gaara. She took a quick moment to check on the boy currently curled up on her small couch with a book in his hand before walking over to the door. She flung the door open with her customary scowl and narrowed her eyes at the masked man at her front door.

"Something I can help you with?", she asked with no trace of patience. She just wanted those papers in her hands so she could have the sick satisfaction of slamming her door in the officers face.

"I need you to sign these documents to confirm the legal adoption of Subaku Gaara.", the ANBU member asked in a calm, bored tone.

There was no doubt in Sakura's mind that the man had been warned about her less than pleasant attitude towards almost every person in existence. She snatched the papers out of his hand and took a few moments to read over the documents, looking for any flaws or anything that could come back to haunt her or the sweet little boy currently reading on her couch. When she found nothing out of order, she snatched the pen in the mans' other hand and easily signed the paperwork.

"Anything else?", she grunted.

"Just curious as to why you would waste your time on such a monstrous child.", the ANBU member scoffed from behind his mask.

"As of thirty two seconds ago, the boy just so happens to be my son. I suggest that you remove yourself from my fucking doorstep before I show you who the real monster here is.", she replied, her voice, once again, laced with deadly promise. Seriously, how many times was she going to have to use this threat against people before they got it through their thick fucking skulls? She hadn't been lying when she had promised to protect Gaara, and if it involved ripping ANBU members to shreds with her bare hands, then so be it.

The ANBU member had thankfully taken her threat seriously and disappeared from her doorstep in a flash. She let out a small sigh before she smirked with a shake of her head. It was honestly quite amusing that people in the village were intimidated by a pink haired teenager. Maybe it was her paternal instincts taking hold or something entirely different, either way, she could live with people being terrified of her.

As far as she was concerned, the only people she needed in her life right now were Gaara and Sasori.

Speaking of Sasori, she needed to get his things for him from his apartment. She hoped that Gaara wouldn't have a problem with going on a little field trip with her, especially since he would be joining her the day after tomorrow for her little trek out to see the red haired rogue. She doubted the young boy would mind though, seeing as he was content with doing just about anything as long as she was there with him.

With that in mind, she slowly closed her door and silently walked back into her living room.

"Who was at the door?", Gaara asked timidly, his face still buried in the book he had found on her shelf. He couldn't read most of the words on the pages, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed trying to figure out the words by using the words he did know as clues.

"ANBU. You're officially my son, Gaara.", Sakura smirked at the boy. The book in his hand was damn near half his size, so watching him sit there with it was more than a little amusing to the young woman.

"Really? So I never have to go back to that man?", Gaara asked, his eyes drew away from the book and shone with excitement.

"Nope, you never have to go back there again.", she nodded easily. Even if he did want to go back to that piece of shit that had sired him, she probably wouldn't have allowed it. That man didn't deserve such a sweetheart of a child.

"Thank you.", the small boy whispered happily.

"You're welcome, Gaara. Now, I do have a couple things that I want to talk to you about.", Sakura explained before taking a seat next to him on the couch.

"What is it?", he asked curiously.

"Once the sun goes down, you and I have to make a trip to an old friend of mine's apartment. He left some stuff there that he wants me to grab for him and bring to him in a couple days. Are you alright with coming with me? I don't want to leave you home alone.", she asked with a small smile.

"Where you go, I go.", Gaara replied with a pout.

"Well, that was easier than I thought.", she admitted with a small laugh.

"Do I get to go with you to see your friend, too?", the small boy asked with pleading eyes.

"You go where I go, remember? As long as you want to go with me, I won't force you to go anywhere that you do not wish to go.", Sakura replied with a small smirk.

Gaara nodded in acceptance at her answer and couldn't help but smile with content. He'd been in this woman's care for less than a day and he could already tell that his life was going to change for the better. He could tell that she wouldn't force him to do anything, she'd promised him a much. He was sure that she would support him in anything that he wanted to do and wouldn't force him to become a ninja if he didn't want to.

Even i he wanted to be a ninja just like her once he was older.

"Gaara, let's go get our errands run and buy you some new clothes and stuff, I just realized that the ANBU that was just here didn't bring any of your stuff from when you lived with your father. ", Sakura said with a small smile. She hadn't really expected Rasa to go out of his way to get Gaara's belongings to him and she wasn't about to march over to the Kage tower and demand his things. She preferred to buy him everything he needed, that way he really would be starting completely anew.

"I didn't have much anyway. Father was more concerned with what Temari and Kankaro needed.", Gaara nodded slowly.

Skaura's heart broke once again for the poor child. She didn't have any siblings and her parents weren't around anymore, so she couldn't really understand the feeling of having a sibling put before her. But even without personal experience, she knew that it had hurt the tiny red head a lot. The very thought of Rasa neglecting Gaara just because he had a demon sealed in him disgusted her beyond reason. The boy was an absolute sweetheart and just wanted someone to look at him like he was just a normal kid. Nobody even gave him a chance.

Until she came into the picture, that is.

"No matter, you'll have everything you need from now on. While we are in the market, if you see something that catches your eye while we're there, let me know. Chances are, we can probably work in out so you can have it.", the older woman promised with a genuine smile.

* * *

Once their errands were done and there purchases were put away, the sun had set for the day and moon shone brightly in the sky overhead. Sakura smiled at the new attire that her adopted son wore now. Gone were the dusty brown robes that seemed to drown his small figure. It was a miracle that Gaara hadn't had a stroke due to the heat in those things. His robes had been replaced with a simple black shirt with grey shorts that brushed his knees every time he took a step. His civilian sandals had been replaced with black shinobi grade sandals at his insistence. When Gaara had explained to her that he wanted to train as a ninja and learn to protect himself and his demon, she had agreed without hesitation.

She didn't enjoy the thought of Gaara putting himself in danger or fighting, but she knew that it was better that he knew how to defend himself. She would have preferred that he had the means to keep himself safe just in case there came a time where she was not around to protect him. The very thought of leaving him alone with absolutely no way to defend himself aside from his sand automatically protecting his body made her cringe in discomfort. While his sand walls and armor were no doubt powerful, every defense had a weakness and he needed to be prepared at all times. Plus, you could only fend someone off for so long before they figured out that you weren't going to strike back.

It would make him an easy target if he wasn't trained in the future. She had agreed to start his training after they had met up with her friend in the desert. She hadn't explained who her friend was yet and figured that it would be best if she and Sasori explained everything to him together. She just really, really hoped that Sasori wouldn't be pissed about her not only adopting a child, but bringing him with to their little meet up. If he had an issue with it, well, then he would just have to deal with it.

Deep down, she hoped that Sasori would accept Gaara as easily as she had. She hoped that Sasori would maybe even have some advice as to how to train the younger red head. Hell, maybe they'd bond over the fact that Gaara looked like he could be Sasori's son. Even if it wasn't true, she still wanted Gaara to have a male figure that he could look up to as he grew.

Was a rogue ninja that had killed the previous Kazekage the most appropriate male role model for Gaara? Probably not, but Sakura knew that, aside from his crimes, Sasori was a good man. It would just come down to Sasori liking kids in the end. Which Sakura really hoped that the older red head wouldn't have any issues. She had a feeling that Sasori knew what it was like to be treated like a monster and maybe he would connect with Gaara because of it. Both red heads hadn't had the greatest lives and she hoped that maybe they could connect with each other because of that fact.

She supposed that she would just have to wait and see. They would be meeting with Sasori in two days time and then it would be the moment of truth.

If Sasori actually showed up, that is. But then again, she was bringing him stuff that he needed, so he was more likely to show up because of that fact.

* * *

Now that the sun was set and the moon was high, the streets of Suna began to clear as the villagers began to make their way home for the night. Sakura slipped into an all black outfit consisting of a skin tight, ANBU style shirt that conformed to her figure and tight black pants that showcased every curve her body had to offer. She slid her feet into her sandals and deemed herself good enough for the cliche ninja shit she was about to do. She turned her head to look at Gaara and found him waiting patiently for her to get ready. She shot him a small smile and crouched on the ground and gestured for him to climb on her back.

Once the small boy was secure on her back, Sakura opened her living room window and climbed onto the roof of her apartment building. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop as she followed the easy instructions that Sasori had given her two nights prior. He didn't live all that far away from her so it was shocking that she'd never run into him before finding him bleeding in the desert.

After about five minutes of rooftop travel, Sasori's apartment building came into view. She counted along the windows of the third floor and popped open the fourth window from the left. She scanned the bedroom with skilled eyes, looking for the telltale signed of traps that the rogue had probably set up before he'd killed the Third Kazekage. Once she deemed that he hadn't set any traps, she easily slipped through the window and set Gaara down on Sasori's old bed, both of them sneezing when a thin layer of dust erupted from the untouched linens.

"Geez, he hasn't been gone very long. How the hell if there so much damn dust in here.", Sakura muttered as she waved her hand around in an attempt to clear away some of the dust.

"Maybe it's from all the wood that's in here. Your friend looked like he used puppets like my older brother. Maybe her made them in here when he had free time?", Gaara suggested as he pointed to a work table that was littered with wooden scraps and carving tools.

"Good eye, kiddo. That's probably the reason. But seriously, Sasori? You couldn't keep the wood dust off you bed or at least warn me? Remind me to swat him with a rolled up newspaper when we see him.", Sakura sighed with a shake of her head.

"I'll be sure to find the thickest newspaper that I can find so he really feels it.", Gaara nodded before another sneeze wracked through his body.

"Just give me a few minutes to gather the stuff he wanted me to grab and we'll get out of this health hazard.", the pink haired woman smirked.

Gaara just nodded in response before burying his nose in his shirt, trying his hardest not to breathe in anymore of the dust.

Sakura made quick work of gathering the scrolls and journals that were spread out on the work table that Gaara had pointed out mere moments ago. She gave the room a quick once over to make sure that there wasn't anything else that seemed like a good idea to grab. She ended up grabbing Sasori a few changes of clothing and the extra weapons that he'd stashed away in his drawers. Part of her felt like she was invading his privacy but quickly reminded herself that the older red head wouldn't be returning to his home anytime soon.

If anything, he'd probably appreciate a couple pairs of clean boxers.

Once she was satisfied that she had everything that she and Gaara had come there for, she made quick work of sealing Sasori's belongings in a scroll for safe keeping. She easily lifted a half asleep Gaara onto her back and slid silently out the window they'd come through. She shut it tightly behind them and took to the rooftops. She was relieved that nobody had spotted them as they broke into Sasori's home. She had no idea what she'd say if someone had seen them, she could have probably come up with an excuse, but it probably wouldn't have been a very good one.

She slid through her apartment window and landed silently in her living room and let out a breath that she was unaware that she had been holding. She peaked over her shoulder and chuckled when she found Gaara completely passed out for the night. She smiled softly before making sure all the windows and the front door were locked before shutting off all the lights. Once that was done, she made her way back to the bedroom that she now shared with Gaara and carefully set him on the bed. She chuckled again when he frown in his sleep at the loss of contact. She carefully placed the scroll that contained Sasori's belongings into a drawer on her nightstand before turning her attention back to Gaara.

She easily removed the sandals from his feet and dropped them on the floor before removing her own. She slid out of the skin tight outfit that she'd worn on their little adventure and threw on an overly large shirt that she couldn't remember every purchasing and climbed into bed next to Gaara. She pulled the blankets over their bodies and snickered when the young red head immediately rolled over and curled into her side. She gave his sleeping form one last smile before wrapping her arms around the young boy and allowed sleep to consume her.

* * *

 **YAY CHAPTER THREE IS DONE!**

 **No Sasori this time, sad face. :(**

 **This story does NOT have a beta so excuse any mistakes I may have missed while editing!**

 **Again, I am SOOOOOO sorry that this took so long to get posted. Life's a bitch and with so many stories, it's hard to keep up. I put myself in this position so I'll just have to deal. But be patient when it comes to updates, I try my hardest to update all my stories as often as I can. Some stories are easy as hell to write and some are stubborn at times. Hopefully the next update won't take me as long and I hope it was worth the wait.**

 **As always, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **UNTIL NEXT TIME!**


	4. Arc One: Desert Patrol

**Okay, first off, I just want to say that I am so sorry that it took so long for me to get this chapter out! I have decided that I am going to write shorter chapters for this story, so it is more manageable for me. Also, updates will come a little quicker this way. I was thinking about this story a lot today and finally decided to sit my tiny ass down and get this shit written. Hopefully it isn't too big of a disappointment and was worth the wait.**

 **Please feel free to scold me for taking so long, lol. It's hard as hell writing multiple stories at once. Especially when some stories basically write themselves half the time. Sadly, this story isn't always like that. The entire story is planned out and all that fun stuff, but when it comes time to sit down and write it, it kicks me in the lady balls and my brain takes a vacation. Lovely, no?**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

Previously;

 _She slid through her apartment window and landed silently in her living room and let out a breath that she was unaware that she had been holding. She peaked over her shoulder and chuckled when she found Gaara completely passed out for the night. She smiled softly before making sure all the windows and the front door were locked before shutting off all the lights. Once that was done, she made her way back to the bedroom that she now shared with Gaara and carefully set him on the bed. She chuckled again when he frowned in his sleep at the loss of contact. She carefully placed the scroll that contained Sasori's belongings into a drawer on her nightstand before turning her attention back to Gaara._

 _She easily removed the sandals from his feet and dropped them on the floor before removing her own. She slid out of the skin tight outfit that she'd worn on their little adventure and threw on an overly large shirt that she couldn't remember every purchasing and climbed into bed next to Gaara. She pulled the blankets over their bodies and snickered when the young red head immediately rolled over and curled into her side. She gave his sleeping form one last smile before wrapping her arms around the young boy and allowed sleep to consume her._

It wasn't until a couple days later that Sakura was packing a small pack filled with everything they would need for their trip into the desert. It was finally time for her to meet up with Sasori again and she had no idea how this meeting was going to go. She'd only met the elder red head once and had no idea if she could truly trust the male. Sure, he had given her no reason not to trust him, but he was a rogue ninja for a reason. He had the capability to defeat and murder one of the Kage's and they were known to be some of the most powerful ninjas within the hidden villages. That, and she had no idea what he would have to say about her bringing a little boy with her to meet him.

It wasn't like she had a choice in that matter anyway. Where she went, Gaara went, and vice versa. She was a woman of her word and would not back out of her meeting with Sasori and the elder red head was just going to have to deal with Gaara's presence. And really, if Sasori truly did have a problem with her bringing her adopted son with her and decided to attack him for whatever reason, she could probably take him down as easily as she had healed him. It had only been a few days since she had met him in the desert and healed his wounds, there was no way that he would be completely healed in such a short period of time.

If protecting her son meant destroying all the hard work she had put into healing the red head, then so be it. She refused to allow anybody to ever cause Gaara harm ever again. As long as she was still breathing, the little boy would be safe from anybody who meant him harm.

Now that she thought about it, she had no idea what Gaara's own plans for the future were. Did he plan to become a ninja like herself? If so, would he want to go to the Academy? She didn't know what other Academy's were like in other villages, but she had a feeling that they weren't as brutal as they were in Suna. During her time in the as a student in the Academy, she had seen and experienced things that no child should ever have to see, hear, or do. Her skills weren't the only reason she had pushed herself to graduate as early as she could.

She wasn't sure that she wanted to expose Gaara to such things. She wasn't stupid though, she knew that the young boy had to learn that the world wasn't full of sunshine and rainbows. It was a dog eat dog out world out there and if you didn't know how to protect yourself, ninja or not, you were as good as dead. She also knew that the demon that had been sealed into his tiny body probably offered him some sort of protection, but if her theory was correct, he didn't have a very good handle on the demon's power. If the boy wanted to become a ninja in the near future, she would have to find a way to help him control and utilize the power of his demon.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she still wanted to brutally beat whoever thought that sealing such a powerful being in such a small boy was a good idea. Either they were severely inept, or they just didn't care about his future. Either way, she still wanted to cause the person responsible as much pain as she could. Maybe she'd find a demon to seal within their body and see how they liked it.

"Uhm...are you okay? You look really, really angry.", Gaara asked, effectively breaking Sakura out of her violent thoughts.

She turned towards the small boy and shook her head with a small smile. She didn't want him to see her in such a state. She had a feeling that he had grown up so far with nothing but anger and misplaced hatred following him wherever he went. She didn't want him to think that she held anything against him, because she truly didn't. She didn't blame him for anything that may have happened in the past. He was with her now and she would help him grow and blossom into a strong boy who held onto his happiness.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Gaara. Just something I was thinking about.", Sakura replied reassuringly.

"Are you sure? You looked like you really wanted to hit something.", the small boy said feebly.

Sakura's heart warmed at his concerned, even if it was misplaced. This boy had been scorned and hated since his birth and he was still worrying about someone other than himself. She was proud of the fact that he hadn't let the shitty acts by others destroy his kind heart.

"I promise, I'm fine. But I do have a question for you and I want your honest answer. I want you to understand that I will not force you to do anything that you do not want to do. I don't know about everything that happened to you before I took you in, but I want you to know that you are free to make your own choices. Whatever you decide to do, I will support you no matter what.", the pink haired woman explained with a small smile.

"What do you want to ask?", the small most asked with wide, curious eyes.

"When you get a little older, do you want to learn to be a ninja or are you happy as you are now? Again, it is completely your choice, Gaara.", Sakura asked gently, not wanting to startle the boy with her question.

"I want to be able to protect those that I care about. I don't want to see you get hurt because I was not able to protect you. I want to be a ninja just like you.", Gaara replied confidently, his jade eyes hardening with determination.

"I appreciate that you want to protect me, Gaara, but let's focus on making sure you can protect yourself first, okay?", the pink haired woman smirked.

"When can we start my training?", the young boy asked excitedly, his little feet bounced on the floor as excitement enveloped him. When he had been back living with his supposed father, he had been flat out told that he would never become a ninja. He had basically been told that he would grow up as a caged animal and would never have the chance to develop as a person. Now more than ever, he was grateful to Sakura for stepping in and taking him away from his own personal hell.

"We could probably start as soon as we get back from our little meeting with my friend, does that sound good?", Sakura suggested.

"Can we try a little bit while we are going through the desert?", Gaara grinned. He was going to be a ninja, he couldn't believe it. He silently promised to make a name for himself and prove to the people who had shunned him that he wasn't the mindless monster that they thought him to be.

"I think we could arrange that. But for now, grab your sandals, we need to get going.", she agreed with a nod before strapping her pack onto her back, Sasori's scrolls were tucked safely inside. She really didn't feel like pissing off the older red headed man by getting any of his stuff dirty, even if a lot of it had been caked in dust at one point.

"Who is this friend of yours anyway, mama?", Gaara asked with a small blush. It was the first time he had ever referred to her in such a manner and something about calling her his mother just felt all kinds of right. He noticed the small, pink tint on Sakura's cheeks and silently decided that she felt the same way. Especially when she shot him a soft, loving smile.

"I'll tell you once we leave the village, son. You have to promise not to tell anybody about our meetings with him though. People around here don't like him very much.", Sakura explained, her cheeks still tinged pink at Gaara's new name for her. When she had taken him in, she never expected him to refer to her as his mother. But now that she had, she felt her love for the small, red haired boy grow to the point where she was sure that her heart was going to burst from her chest.

"Understood.", Gaara nodded firmly, choosing not to question his mother's decision.

He knew that his mother would never do anything to hurt him or put him in danger. He had a feeling that whoever it was that they were about to go and meet was about to become somebody that would probably end up taking a very active role in his life. While Gaara may have been young, only six years old, but he wasn't dumb. He knew more about the ways of the world than people seemed to realize. He had grown up so far walking in his older sibling's shadows and had watched the world pass from the only window in his former bedroom.

Sakura shot him one last smile before double checking to make sure they had everything that they needed. She wasn't really sure how the guards at the front gates of the village were going to feel about her taking a small child on patrol with her, but they would end up just having to suck it up. She wasn't like Gaara's piece of shit father, she would never leave him home alone. Especially in a home that he was still getting used to. If they truly did have an issue and tried to stop her from leaving, she had no problem knocking them on their asses before she and Gaara exited the village.

Once she was positive that they had everything they needed, the pink haired woman grabbed Gaara's hand and led him to the front door. Once the front door to their home was locked and the traps she'd set around her home were activated, they left the building and headed in the direction of the village gates.

* * *

Sakura felt her eye twitch as one of the ninjas guarding the entrance of the village stared at her son with wide, frightened eyes. Her gaze traveled over to the little boy firmly holding onto her hand to try to see how he felt about being stared at like he was about to attack at any moment. She was slightly surprised when she found that Gaara had his eyes locked with the man that was staring at him and was shooting the elder man a small smirk.

"Is there something about my son that you find so interesting?", Sakura asked the man that still refused to remove his gaze from her son.

"It's just that...why do you have him with you? Don't you know that he isn't allowed to exit the village?", the guard asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"That was before he was adopted by me. As of now, his rights have completely changed. Where I go, he will go as well. Meaning he will be leaving the village with me while I go on patrol", Sakura scowled in response. She felt Gaara's tiny hand tighten slightly around her own before she felt a small stream of his sand curl around her wrist just as it had back in the Kage Tower a couple days prior. She mentally beamed with pride when she didn't flinch at the contact this time around.

"Do you have his adoption papers to prove your claims?", the man stuttered out. He wasn't even sure who he was more intimidated by at this point. The pink haired woman who had no issues beating people into submission when people pissed her off, or the boy who had a raging demon sealed within his body. It was a toss-up really.

Without a word, the pink haired woman stuffed her free hand in the pocket of her pants and withdrew the papers signifying Gaara's legal adoption. She held the paper in front of the man's face and couldn't help but smirk when his face paled as he realized that she was telling the truth. One of the most brutal and dangerous ninjas in Fire Country had legally adopted the Demon of the Desert.

"If you are done wasting my mother's time, we have things to do tonight.", Gaara's soft voice spoke up, his own smirk still firmly in place. It seemed that in the few short days that he had been with his new mother, he had already started to pick up some of her habits. He wasn't about to complain about that fact though, he preferred this new found confidence instead of cowering away from anything with a heartbeat.

"Y-yes, go right ahead.", the guard sputtered out before gesturing towards the gates, allowing them to leave without another word.

* * *

Once Gaara and Sakura were free of the village gates, both of them could no longer contain their chuckles of amusement.

"I don't know who he was more scared of, you or me, mama.", Gaara snickered childishly.

"And here I thought that you didn't like being feared, Gaara?", the woman replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't, but watching people wiggle around like that is always funny. I thought he was going to pee his pants", the young red head shrugged with another chuckle.

"Good point. But now we have to be careful, it's time to go meet up with my friend.", the pink haired woman explained with smirk.

"Now that we are out of the village and in the desert, can you tell me who we are going to go meet up with?", Gaara asked innocently.

Sakura let out a small sigh before grasping Gaara's hand a little more firmly.

"We are going to go meet up with a man who recently defected from the village. I found him close to death the day before I ended up adopting you. He wanted to meet up again tonight while I was on patrol.", Sakura explained.

"Why doesn't he live in the village anymore, mama?", Gaara asked with wide, curious eyes. He had no judgement shining in his sea foam colored orbs, only childish curiosity. While his siblings may have gotten most of his father's attention, he had spent most of his time scouring through countless books, learning everything he possibly could from the thick tombs.

"He killed the man that Rasa has replaced as the Kazekage.", Sakura answered with a smirk.

"He killed the Third Kazekage?", the little boy questioned, wanting to make sure that he hadn't heard wrong. He kept his eyes trained on the road ahead of them, not wanting to miss any of the dull scenery that the desert had to offer.

"Yep, took him down all by himself too.", the medic nodded.

"I would have given him a medal. From what I heard from the other villagers as they passed by, he was a bad guy.", Gaara muttered under his breath, just loud enough for his mother to hear. He looked up at her curiously when he heard her snort with amusement. His forehead crinkled in confusion when she was overtaken by a fit of chuckles.

"I actually tore off one of my buttons and fashioned him a medal of sorts when he proved to me that he truly had taken down the Third Kazekage.", Sakura explained through her chuckles.

"Sounds like someone I think I can get along with.", the young boy snickered.

Sakura internally groaned, ' _God, I fucking hope so'_

* * *

 **And we finally have chapter four! Again, I am soooo sorry for the wait on this chapter. I'll try to update more often now that Family Fun Night is finally finished! Like I stated up top, I will probably keep to smaller 3K chapters, so updates come a little quicker now.**

 **Gaara is starting to develop some of Sakura's habits already. God help us all.**

 **The mother son combo be scaring the guards at the front gates. HA.**

 **They're finally about to go and meeting up is Sasori! That's right, we get some Sasori in the next chapter. About time, no?**

 **As always, please leave a review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed!**

 **Until Next Time!**


	5. Arc One: Reunion

**Whoa, I'm back with an extremely quick update? Sweet. Finally the chapter that everyone has been waiting for!**

 **It's Sasori reunion time, bitches!**

 **There's quite a bit going on in this chapter guys and I hope you enjoy it! :)**

 **Anyway!**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story!**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

Previously;

 _"He killed the Third Kazekage?", the little boy questioned, wanting to make sure that he hadn't heard wrong. He kept his eyes trained on the road ahead of them, not wanting to miss any of the dull scenery that the desert had to offer._

 _"Yep, took him down all by himself too.", the medic nodded._

 _"I would have given him a medal. From what I heard from the other villagers as they passed by, he was a bad guy.", Gaara muttered under his breath, just loud enough for his mother to hear. He looked up at her curiously when he heard her snort with amusement. His forehead crinkled in confusion when she was overtaken by a fit of chuckles._

 _"I actually tore off one of my buttons and fashioned him a medal of sorts when he proved to me that he truly had taken down the Third Kazekage.", Sakura explained through her chuckles._

 _"Sounds like someone I think I can get along with.", the young boy snickered._

 _Sakura internally groaned,_ 'God, I fucking hope so'

* * *

Sakura held tightly to Gaara's hand as they traveled through the vastness of the desert. Now that she had someone with her while she was out patrolling, she was just now realizing just how bored she had been when she was forced to go alone. The soft crunching of Gaara's sandals had an almost calming effect on the usually tense woman. While she knew that she would have to teach him how to pump his chakra into his feet so he would silently, she was content with listening to each of his steps for the time being. The young woman was brought out of her thoughts of the future when she heard Gaara's soft voice call out to her, his green eyes wide with wonder.

"How long will it take us to get to the meeting point?", the young boy asked curiously. He knew that his mother was using her chakra to conceal the sounds of her own footsteps and silently wondered why she hadn't immediately taught him to do the same once the had left the village. He knew that there was a chance that his footsteps could attract unwanted attention as they walked through the sandy dunes of the desert.

"Hmm, it shouldn't be too much longer now. Maybe about fifteen minutes or so. I can feel a chakra signature a little ways off from here. Can you feel it, Gaara?", the young woman murmured in response. While she had only met Sasori once and had only spent a short time with him, it wasn't hard for her to recognize Sasori's unique chakra signature. Over the past three days, she had tried to find a word that describe his aura but had failed to find one. The only way she could describe it was by stating that it was simply Sasori.

"I think so, what do chakra signatures feel like?", the young boy asked in response. His nose was crinkled as he strained his senses to find the source of the chakra that wasn't too far off. He knew that he would be able to find people's signatures easily in no time, but this was his first real test from his mother. He didn't want to fail. He could feel an almost pressure like feeling emitting from someone about ten minutes straight ahead of them. Could that be his mother's chakra signature?

"It's a complicated thing to explain, I won't deny that. The way I describe it is that it feels like an aura that encompasses a persons body and is directed outwards out of their bodies, almost like a cocoon of warmth. While everybody has chakra, nobody has the same chakra stores in their bodies. Some have very little chakra and do not have the capabilities to become a ninja, while others have massive stores of it.", Sakura explained with a small smile, there footsteps never once faltering as they continued onward.

"How are you able to tell how much chakra a person has? I though people could only take note of their own stores?", Gaara asked curiously.

"In most cases, that is true. But there are some bloodline limits out there that allow the user to look into people's chakra pathways. It not only allows them to see the pathways, but it also allows them to take note of how much of your stores you have left. There are some powerful clans out there Gaara, some that you really, really don't want to piss off.", the young woman replied with a grunt, her mind wandering back towards memories of the past for a quick moment. She quickly shook her head and cleared herself of such thoughts.

"Do we have clans like that here in the desert?" Gaara asked, his mind drinking in and storing every piece of information that she shared with him and his young mind.

"No, we don't have anything like that all the way out here. If you want a village that has a multitude of bloodline limits, you'd have to go to the Leaf Village.", Sakura replied with a shake of her head.

"What kinds of bloodline limits to they have there?", the young boy asked excitedly.

"Well, from the Uchiha clan, they have a bloodline limit called the Sharingan. I honestly don't know a whole lot about it, but from what I do know, it allows the user to copy jutsu's. I think it has its own set of Genjutsu that are overly powerful and difficult to break out of. I don't know a whole lot about it though, I've never fought anybody with it. From what I heard, the Uchiha clan was obliterated by their Heir a few years ago.", Sakura shrugged.

"A single person killed his own family? Why would anybody do that?!", Gaara demanded, his eyes suddenly shimmering with barely withheld tears. Considering that young boy had grown up with almost no bonds with his family, he didn't quite understand the concept of familial bond. But now that he had Sakura, he couldn't imagine having her ripped away from him.

Much less killing her by his own hand.

"It's hard to say, honestly. The rumors state that he wanted to test his abilities. But I honestly don't believe that. From what I've heard from rumors before the massacre, the heir of the Uchiha clan was a total pacifist. I can't see a guy like that going off the deep end and waking up one morning with death on the brain.", Sakura explained with a frown.

After hearing about the Uchiha Massacre through the grapevine while out on missions, she couldn't help but notice that some things just didn't add up. She hadn't thought too much into it since she wasn't a ninja of the Leaf and their affairs really weren't any of her concern, but it wouldn't kill anyone to be a little bit curious.

"When you put it that way, I suppose you have quite the point, Sakura.", a new voice spoke up, a smirk evident in the newcomers voice.

Sakura whipped around so quickly that Gaara's tiny body was airborn for a moment before he landed gracefully on the young woman's back. Her eyes narrowed fiercely before they widened a fraction as she took in the visitors form.

"Oh, it's just you Sasori. You know it's dangerous to sneak up on another ninja. If you had been anybody else, I would have separated your head from your shoulders by now.", Sakura bit out through clenched teeth.

"My apologies. I was not my intention to startle you. I doubt you would have reacted in such a manner if you had not brought company with you. Who is this young boy anyway, he looks strangely familiar. And like me, weirdly enough.", Sasori asked, his murky brown orbs squinting slightly as he tried to get a better look at the boy on his pink haired friends back.

"Oh, this is Gaara. His biological father is the Fourth Kazekage. Our village sure knows how to choose shitty leaders.", Sakura snorted.

"And you have the new Kazekage's child on your back because...?", the elder red head asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She adopted me.", Gaara whispered in response, surprising both of the adults.

"The Kazekage allowed you to adopt his son?", Sasori asked disbelievingly, not quite being able to believe such a thing was possible.

"Yes, it's a very long story. But, if you'd like to hear it, I'm sure Gaara wouldn't mind me telling you his story.", Sakura explained with a small smile.

"It might be helpful if I were to know of his situation, if you don't mind that is.", Sasori nodded before turning his head towards the young boy that strangely looked like he did as a child, save for the dark circles around his eyes. His eyes narrowed the smallest bit when he saw the tattoo decorating the small boy's forehead.

"Would it be okay if I told Sasori about your situation, Gaara?", Sakura asked the young boy on her back, she peered over her shoulder at him, her green eyes shining with a kindness that she saved just for him.

"If you trust him, so do I.", Gaara nodded with a small smile.

With a nod of her own, Sakura turned back to the elder red head and began the story of how she had taken Gaara away from his tyrant of a father.

Sasori noticed that the minute she started speaking that her eyes hardened with hatred towards the man who had caused the small boy on her back so much lonliness and sorrow.

* * *

When Sakura finished her story, she noticed that there a small pool of dampness between her should blades. She easily realized that Gaara had started to cry silently as she recounted the day that they had met and the day she had adopted him. She felt bad for bringing up such hard memories for the young boy but was proud that he had managed to cry in silence. If she had not felt the wet spot on her shirt, she never would have known about his emotional break down.

"So, what you are tell me, if that they sealed a Tailed Beast within his body when he was just a baby?", Sasori asked slowly, his fists trembling with anger. He may have been a criminal and had been the one to murder the previous Kazekage, but there were some lines you just did not cross. Sealing a dangerous demon within a small chidl was one of those lines.

"I'm not so sure about the Tailed Beast part, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. There aren't many other demons that get sealed into people. I do not know the reason behind Gaara being sealed with the demon, but either way, it's wrong. The fact that his father showed no remorse at all for the way his son was treated by the rest of the village proves that. I don't even want to know what other horrors Gaara was forced to play witness to before I took him in.", Sakura nodded.

"And you thought that adopting him would remedy this?", the elder red head asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed. I'm sure you were able to gather that I'm not the nicest person out there when we first met. I have little to no compassion for the people in the village. But seeing an innocent child being treated in such a deplorable manner makes me sick. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had not stepped in and helped him. You're actually taking me bringing a child here with me surprisingly well.", Sakura pointed out with a raise of her own eyebrow.

"What you do within the village is none of my business. If our meeting are going to continue, it wouldn't matter if I had a problem with you bringing him with you. From what I can see, it is obvious that he is attached to you. Where you go, he would blindly follow whether you wanted him to or not. And you would do that same, because you are clearly his mother. Blood does not matter in this case.", Sasori shrugged as if he was stating the obvious.

Sakura couldn't help but smirk,"Well, you aren't wrong. That's for sure."

"I figured as much. Did you grab the things from my former home for me, by the way?", Sasori asked with a tilt of his head.

Sakura nodded before turning her head to regard Gaara. Her eyes softened as she realized that the young boy had fallen into a peaceful slumber on her back.

Noticing the sleeping boy, Sasori spoke up,"It would seem that we will have to wait until he wakes up. I assume that my things are in the pack he is currently asleep on?"

"Yeah, he is. From what his father told me, sleep is a rarity for him. Rasa couldn't even tell me when the last time Gaara had actually slept. In the three days that he's been with me, he hasn't had issues sleeping once.", Sakura replied with a small nod.

"Please tell me that this man doesn't have more children.", the red head sighed. While he wasn't exactly a kind man, he tended to have a soft spot for children. Gaara's previous living conditions hadn't failed to disgust him.

He knew that Sakura had issues with their village and didn't doubt that one day she would defect from them. But would that change now that she had a child to look out for? Would she be able to leave him behind should she defect? Or would he leave the confines of that village with her without hesitation. He had only known Gaara for about an hour and he'd been sleeping for most of it, but he could tell that the boy's loyalty towards his mother figure wouldn't be shattered by anyone or anything.

"He has two more children, Gaara being his youngest. The village sings their praises and he actually spends time with them. Gaara is the only one of his children that have been shunned. I honestly doubt that his siblings have even noticed that he's gone.", Sakura spat.

"Utterly disgusting. Would you like me to remove him from your back? You look a little uncomfortable.", Sasori smirked in response, wisely changing the subject. He could tell that just talking about her son's past made her angry beyond comprehension. That last thing he needed was her rushing back into the village and putting a hole through Rasa's chest, no matter how much the man deserved it.

"I know you just want your shit, but yes. If you could move him and hand him over, I'd appreciate it.", the pink haired woman sighed out, willing her temper to control itself. She couldn't help it, the loneliness that Gaara had endured made her downright murderous.

God help the first girl to break his heart when he started dating.

At that thought, Sakura visibly paled.

"Something wrong, Sakura?", Sasori asked curiously as he placed the sleeping boy into her awaiting arms. When the hell had he slipped behind her and grabbed Gaara?

"Gaara...dating...", she replied with a twitch of her eye.

"He's like...six. You have time before you even have to think about that.", the elder red head pointed out.

"I'm not ready to be a grandma...", she trailed off.

"He's SIX."

"Grandbabies..."

"Snap out of it woman!", Sasori snapped before swatting the woman's shoulder, effectively breaking her out of her thoughts.

"The...fuck?", she mumbled.

"Nothing you need to worry about for now. Now, may I have my things?", Sasori answered with a small smirk.

Without a word, Sakura shrugged the backpack off her back and handed it to the red headed rogue before holding the sleeping boy in her arms more securely. She watched silently as Sasori dug through the bag, withdrawing the scrolls that held his belongings.

"You know, this is technically treason, right?", Sasori asked as he unsealed one of the scrolls, taking note of what each one of them held.

"Do you really think that I care? You know my opinion about the village. It's only a matter of time before I take Gaara and flee that wretched place. There's just something I have to do before I can do that.", the pink haired woman snorted.

"You mentioned that during our first meeting. If you do not mind me asking, what is it that you need to do before you leave the village for good?", Sasori asked curiously.

"You really wish to know?", she asked in return.

"I woudn't have asked if I didn't want to know.", he pointed out.

"We're going to be leaving the village? We're going to be rogues at some point?", Gaara's sleepy voice cut in.

Sakura sighed, of course he would choose now to wake up. She supposed it was for the best though. He had to find out sometime and there was a chance that he would be angry about it. But at the same time, he probably wouldn't feel any remorse for what Sakura wanted to do.

"Yes, Gaara. I will be a rogue ninja in due time. When that time will come, I do not know. But there is something that I must do first that will spur my defection into action. It is completely your choice whether or not you choose to follow me down that path in life.", Sakura nodded slowly.

Sasori wisely decided to stay quiet for the moment, knowing that this was a conversation between mother and son. He wasn't this boy's father or sibling, it wasn't his place to share his opinions.

"Where you go, I will always follow.", Gaara stated firmly, no trace of hesitation lacing his words.

"You say that now, but that may very well change once I tell you what I intend to do in the future.", the woman grimaced.

"What do you plan to do?", the young boy asked, his voice no longer laced with sleep. He was fully alert and didn't want to miss a single word that left his mother's lips.

"When the time is right and your training as a ninja is complete to the point that you are able to defend yourself...I plan to assassinate Rasa.", Sakura explained seriously.

"You plan to kill my father?", Gaara's sleepy voice spoke up, his voice laced with sleep.

"Yes, Gaara.", Sakura nodded.

"I want to help.", Gaara replied sternly, no hesitation was present in his voice.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly along with Sasori's. That had not been the reaction that they had been expecting. They had been expecting some sort of emotional response. But instead, they had been given the complete opposite. Instead of opposing the idea of assassinating the man that had sired him, he want to assist in his death. Not many children reacted that way and neither of them could figure out just what was going on in his young mind.

"You're sure, Gaara? You don't have to. This is my fight.", Sakura assured, not wanting him to feel like he was obligated to help her.

"You and Sasori are my family now, that man means nothing to me.", Gaara replied stonily.

"I wish to help as well. I am already a wanted man and his body would make a wonderful puppet. Especially with that Iron Sand technique of his.", Sasori smirked.

"As long as you two are completely serious, I won't stop you from helping me. But we will not being doing a damn thing until Gaara had been trained properly.", Sakura said sternly.

"I'm sure that both of us were already completely aware of that, Sakura. Isn't that right, Gaara?", Sasori snickered before turning his attention to the little boy.

"That's right, I will not allow any harm to come to my new family. The Village Hidden in the Sand will rue the day that they messed with us.", Gaara smirked with disturbing childish glee.

"Are we sure that he's actually six and not just a midget?", Sasori whispered quiet enough for Sakura to hear.

"I think the demon is influencing part of his reaction. The demon is quite a violet being towards those he does not like. He accidentally cut my hand open when we first met but hasn't harmed me since. Once he is trained, his demon will come in handy when he's fighting.", Sakura whispered back just as quietly.

"When do we start my training?", Gaara spoke up, completely oblivious to his mother's conversation with Sasori.

"Immediately.", Sasori and Sakura responded in unison.

* * *

Little did they know that it would be six years before their plan was set into motion and the Third Kazekage would ultimately meet his demise at the hands of the woman who had adopted his child, his youngest son, and the man who had murdered the Kage before him.

It wouldn't be until six years later that the murders of the Fourth Kazkage would come to be known as the Akasuna's as they left bloody footprints in the blood wherever they went.

Rogue's fled in fear whenever they would make their presences known.

The bounties on their heads were some of the highest in the Bingo Books.

The scratch marks in each of their headbands would be displayed proudly without hesitation.

Little did they know though, that they had caught the eye of one of the most infamous organizations in all of the Five Great Nations.

* * *

 **Yay! Chapter five is officially done! What'd you guys think? I know it got a little fast paced at the end there, but I don't want to drag out the childhood arc, you know? So, we're flashing forward six years into the future next chapter! We're finally going to get this party started!**

 **I do not use a beta so please excuse any mistakes I may have missed while editing!**

 **Instead of one Akasuna, we have a family of them now. If made it a little bit easier, ya know?**

 **Who will be the one's to confront the Akasuna's when it comes time for them to join the Akatsuki?**

 **Will they actually join?**

 **Is Gaara going to be like he was in cannon or is he actually going to show emotions this time around?**

 **How has Sasori and Sakura's relationship blossomed over the last six years leading up to the assassination?**

 **Are we going to get some Team 7 action at some point?**

 **As always, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **What would you like to see within this story?!**


	6. Arc Two: Preparations

**I want to start off by saying how sorry I am that this chapter took so long to write and get posted. Life dug its cruel little claws into me and my life hasn't slowed down until recently. Now that my life is finally getting back on track, I hope to have more time to sit down and bust out chapters for you guys. I would also like to thank all of those who take time out of their days to not only read my stories, but those who review them as well. You guys make writing these stories completely worth the time and effort that goes into writing these chapters and continuing my stories.**

 **You guys are my true inspiration!**

 **I'd like to thank Caroline-Slytherin for pointing out a mistake I made in the timeline! Thank you so much for catching my mistake!**

 **Anyway.**

 **I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this AU.**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **S Lyubov'yu,**

 **Casper**

* * *

Previously;

 _Little did they know that it would be six years before their plan was set into motion and the Third Kazekage would ultimately meet his demise at the hands of the woman who had adopted his child, his youngest son, and the man who had murdered the Kage before him._

 _It wouldn't be until six years later that the murders of the Fourth Kazkage would come to be known as the Akasuna's as they left bloody footprints in the blood wherever they went._

 _Rogue's fled in fear whenever they would make their presences known._

 _The bounties on their heads were some of the highest in the Bingo Books._

 _The scratch marks_

 _\in each of their headbands would be displayed proudly without hesitation._

 _Little did they know though, that they had caught the eye of one of the most infamous organizations in all of the Five Great Nations._

* * *

Six years had passed since the death of Gaara's father. Six years had passed since the youngi red headed boy and his adopted mother had tossed their village loyalties aside and had chosen the path of a rogue ninja. Together they traveled across the Five Great Nations with the third member of their group. He was a native from their home village and had the deaths of two Kage's under his belt. The trio were known throughout all of the nations and ninjas did everything in their power to avoid them if they were able to. The small band of rouges were known for their ferocity and their disregard for the lives of the ninjas that crossed their paths.

The band of rogues known as the Akasuna's were not to be underestimated, and that's what made them interesting.

Over the course of six years, Sakura Akasuna had grown into quite the attractive young woman. Gone was the childish figure she'd had at the age of eighteen. Her body had filled out in all the right places and her face had rounded into a more adult like fashion. She had long since abandoned her short hairstyle and had begun growing her hair out to her waist at her boys' request. While Sasori and Gaara adored her no matter what, she seemed more complete with her hair billowing out behind her as she dove through the trees.

Gaara had grown a lot in the six years he had been a rouge. Gone was the childish innocence he had surrounded himself in before his pink haired mother figure had stepped into his life and adopted him into her life. He had grown into quite the attractive young man now that he'd reached eighteen years old. While it had taken the Shukaku a good two years, he was finally able to stand next to Sasori without having to worry about his sand attempting to assault the puppet master. While his emotions had been given time to develop, he rarely showed his emotions to the people that had enough bad luck to run into him and is family when the moon shone high in the sky. The young man took no pride in hurting the people who tried to harm his family, but he rarely hesitated. The only time he had managed to kill without mercy was when Sakura, Sasori, and himself had stormed the Kazekage's tower and had assassinated his father in the dead of night.

Until that night, the young red head had been completely unaware of just how far his hatred for his father had gone. During his fathers final moments in the world of the living, he had not been able to fight back the small, satisfied smile that had graced his young features. And now, six years later, he could easily say that he'd never regretted the taking of his fathers life. While he may not have delivered the killing blow to the man who had helped give him life, he had used his sand to seal all of the exits and had prevented the Kazekage from escaping. While his father had made an attempt to break through his sand barriers with his Iron Sand, his attempts had ultimately failed thanks to Sakura's quick thinking.

The pink haired woman had instantly sprung into action the moment she saw that Rasa was attempting to break through her sons barriers. She had used her medical knowledge to collapse the Kazekage's chakra pathways, making the man nearly defenseless. While he had tried to fight them off with hand to hand combat, he had come up short when it came to the pink haired woman's insanely powerful attacks.

Once the man had been beaten down into a submissive position, Sasori had taken it upon himself to deal the finishing blow to the man who had hurt the young boy who he had quickly come to think of as a little brother. He hadn't spared any expense in the puppet he chose to use to take the Kazekage's life. He had spent countless hours and sleepless nights preparing the body of the prior Kazekage for that moment.

The elder red head took great pride in the puppet he had made out of the corpse of the once respected Kazekage and didn't miss the small amount of irony of using one dead Kazekage to kill his successor. The blow had been swift but he had made sure that it would take more than just a few seconds for Gaara's father to ultimately leave the world of the living. He too, had smiled as he watched the life drain from the red haired man's mocha colored eyes.

It had been six years since that day and the group of three couldn't be happier with the way their lives were going now. Even though they were constantly being hunted by hunter nin and ANBU, none of them could bring it within themselves to care. They had survived for six years on the run so far and they knew that they were smart enough to continue to slip through ANBU's hands. Not once had they ever come close to capturing them.

Not even Gaara when he was still a small child.

That just spoke volumes of how powerful the Akasuna family truly was.

That just proved why they were feared throughout the Five Great Nations.

And little did they know, that was why they had become a target for one of the most feared organizations in the entire world.

* * *

"Itachi, report.", An ominous voice commanded.

"The Akasuna's are on the move once again. They have been spotted just north of the boarder to Fire. There is no evidence suggesting where their destination might be.", came Itachi's calm voice.

"Who is closest to their location at this time?", came the voice once more.

"I believe Hidan and Kakazu are closest to their location at this current point in time. There were bounties in that area that Kakazu wished to cash in on.", Itachi replied calmly.

"Very well, I will contact them at once and tell them to intercept the Akasuna's at once. It is time that we recruit them now that the child has grown.", was the reply.

"As you wish, Leader.", Itachi replied with a nod before turning swiftly on his heel and left the room.

Once the door was firmly closed behind the Uchiha, the Leader of the Akatsuki let out a small sigh. About four years ago, he had taken notice of the small band of Sand Ninjas. He had immediately been impressed by the sheer power that the three of them held within their bodies. Their unique skills would surely be an asset to his organization. When he had first taken notice of the Akasuna's he had been somewhat tempted to recruit them right away, but had decided against it due to the age of the small boy that had been traveling with them. But now that the young man was eighteen years old, he was more than ready to join the group without becoming a liability.

Pein reached into once of the drawers in his desk and drew out three files containing every bit of information he had gathered over the years concerning the Akasuna's. He decided to start with the female of the group's file. He flipped the file open and honed in on the details that concerned the young pink haired woman.

 _Sakura Akasuna:_

 _Age: 29_

 _Former Village: Sunagakure_

 _Family: No living relatives._

 _Abilities: Monstrous strength when chakra is channeled into her limbs, exceptional knowledge of medical ninjutsu. Trained by the legendary Sannin Tsunade._

 _Wanted for: Assassination of the Fourth Kazekage._

 _Total of Deaths recorded: 834_

 _Rank Before Defection: Jonin but easily ANBU level in combat._

 _Wanted For: Assassination of the Fourth Kazekage._

There were countless other details that he knew about the strange pink haired woman, but they seemed irrelevant when it came down to just how useful her skills could be to his organization. He flipped the file closed and reached for the second one in the pile. He flipped the file open and began to read the details of the elder red head of the little group.

 _Sasori Akasuna:_

 _Age: 30_

 _Former Village: Sunagakure._

 _Family: Sunagakure elder Chiyo._

 _Abilities: Poisons expert. Use of puppets made from the bodies of those he or his family have killed. Uses puppets made from the Third and Fourth Kazekage. Minor medical knowledge._

 _Total Deaths Recorded: Unknown_

 _Rank Before Defection: Former ANBU_

 _Wanted For: Assassination of the Third and Fourth Kazekage._

Even with just Sasori and Sakura, Pein knew that his organization would benefit if it had only been the two of them. But having a third member to add to the group made the deal taste even more sweet. He silently hoped that the recruitment of the Akasuna's would go smoothly and that Hidan and Kakazu would not end up having to kill the trio for refusing to join the Akatsuki. His a mental shake of his head, the Leader of the Akatsuki flipped Sasori's file closed and moved onto the final folder in the pile. He quickly flipped it open and began to read.

 _Gaara Akasuna:_

 _Age: 18_

 _Former Village: Sunagakure._

 _Family: Adoptive mother Sakura Akasuna._

 _Abilities: Host to the One Tailed Shukaku. Complete control over sand. Can be used for defensive purposes or attacking. Minor medical knowledge. Has complete control over his Tailed Beasts power._

 _Total Deaths Recorded: Unknown._

 _Rank Before Defection: None._

 _Wanted For: Assassination of the Fourth Kazekage._

Pein closed Gaara's file with a sadistic, satisfied smile. The days to come would truly prove to be quite interesting. He swiftly put the files back into the drawer he had taken them out of and closed the drawer tightly. He gathered chakra into the ring that sat proudly on his finger and sent his jutsu through his ring to connect with the Zombie Twins at their location.

"The fuck is it, Leader?!", Hidan's voice rang out in Pein's mind.

"You are to stop whatever it is you are doing and track down the Akasuna family at once. It is time they were recruited into the Akatsuki.", Pein ordered, completely ignoring Hidan's foul choice of words.

"Why the fuck do we have to track down that fucking family?!", Hidan groaned with disgusted. The Jashinist had heard stories about the havoc that the family was known to cause and wouldn't deny that it made him slightly curious. But still, tracking them down didn't seem like the most appealing idea and he was damn well going to make that fact known to Leader.

"You and Kakazu are the closest ones to their current location, so you will be the ones to retrieve them. Do not disappoint me. They are to join at all costs. Their abilities will benefit the organization greatly. Do not mess this up, Hidan.", Pein ordered cooly before cutting off his connection with the murderous priest.

* * *

The silver haired priest swore under his breath as he felt the connection with Pein cut off. He didn't care how close he was to the Akasuna families location, he still didn't understand why he and his tightwad of a partner had to be the ones to go find them. Trying to recruit people was something he was admittedly horrible at. He'd never been very convincing when it came to anything but conning a woman into sleeping with him, only for him to sacrifice her once he'd gotten his rocks off.

But that was beside the point.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the gravelly sound of his partner's voice spoke up from behind him.

"What did Leader want from us?", Kakazu asked from behind his foul mouthed partner.

"We're supposed to go find those Akasuna fuckers and bring them back to headquarters with us.", the Jashinist spat in annoyance.

"Very well, we will turn in these bounties and track them down once that is done.", the stitched ninja nodded before turning on his heel and heading in the direction of the nearest village. The faster they found the band of Sand Ninjas, the faster he could round up more bounties.

"Whatever you say, Stitches.", Hidan grunted before following behind his partner. There was no sense in arguing with his partner, he knew better than to get in the way of his penny pinching partners way when it came to money.

* * *

 **Alright, so I know that this chapter is horribly short, but I was kind of crunched for time here. I didn't want to dive to far into the true beginning of this story and fail to find a good stopping point. So I'm sorry if you guys wanted more this time around. I will be working on the next chapter of this story as soon as humanly possible. I promise that it won't take as long as last time to get a chapter out!**

 **I do not use a beta, so please excuse any mistakes that I may have missed during my editing!**

 **So, just how are the Akasuna's going to react when Hidan and Kakazu show up and try to recruit them?**

 **Will they go willingly?**

 **Will a fight break out?**

 **So many questions but no answers at this time, I guess you'll just have to come back for the next chapter, yeah?**

 **As always, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!**

 **Until Next Time!**


End file.
